The present invention relates generally to the documentation and evaluation of real estate investments, and more particularly, to automated real estate loan origination and underwriting processes from initial customer contact to commitment.
Methods for documentation and evaluation of real estate loan applications are well known in the investment industry, however, the specific sequence of steps directed toward preparation of the substantial necessary documentation and chosen method of analysis of the financial parameters are a matter of choice. For commercial and industrial real estate investment, the volume of supporting documentation and analysis is substantial, as are the dollar amounts and investment risk. Furthermore, consistency of such procedures and expeditious processing is important. To this end, proprietary computer applications have been developed by individual business entities, which automate individual aspects of the loan preparation, evaluation and authorization process.
In some cases, investment deals are compiled by business entity personnel who may be geographically distant from the central office, and possibly philosophically distant from the entity's investment policy and standards. Equally important, is early scrutiny of certain deal parameters against threshold parameters which serve to exclude potential real estate deals that fall outside the interests of the business entity. Consequently, the cost of compiling pertinent data and executing an appropriate and effective analysis of the data is an important factor. This is especially true for a business entity that conducts such transactions on a routine basis.
Computer applications directed toward compiling information about real estate property are known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,794,216 describes an application program executed by a computer that includes a database containing multimedia information for each property, including images of the property, and database-stored parameters corresponding to portions of the image. The multimedia information includes market data and images of the property and neighboring circumstances.
Computer applications directed toward evaluating real estate are also known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,680,305 describes a computer application that provides a method for evaluating real estate for use by a business entity. The application provides for storage of property description data, usage data, such as rental financial history, and other factors. A numerical “utilization indicator” is determined from these parameters, and after further processing, a “score” is developed, which represents a quantitative evaluation of the real estate property.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,966,699 describes a method for conducting electronic auctions of loan applications. In this method, a computer system connected to the Internet or other network electronically communicates “electronic” loan application forms from a prospective borrower to a loan authorizer, who maintains viable applications in a database, for subsequent electronic communication to one or more loan institutions for quotations.
Therefore, a data acquisition computer program is required for compiling loan origination information including financial and physical information relating to a specific property and multimedia real estate market information associated with the property, together with a credit request and loan application. The architecture of the computer program needs to be configured so as to provide consistency of processing among a variety of potential users through use of embedded choices, rules and financial models. The application should require only one-time entry of data in a non-linear sequence of data input screens, and should auto-populate documents with input data and generated values wherever appropriate. The system should be capable of electronically communicating loan documents to business entity personnel at any point during the document preparation process.